{"id":27,"date":"2016-03-26T10:39:45","date_gmt":"2016-03-26T14:39:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/elements.chem.umass.edu\/youlab\/?page_id=27"},"modified":"2026-04-15T12:20:57","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T16:20:57","slug":"news","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/elements.chem.umass.edu\/youlab\/news\/","title":{"rendered":"News"},"content":{"rendered":"

2026<\/strong><\/h3>\n

April 06, 2026 \u00a0<\/b><\/strong>Yizhan Guo receives an Armstrong Graduate Student Research Grant from UMass.\u00a0\u00a0Congrats, Yizhan!<\/p>\n

April 06, 2026\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong>Our paper about mechanically triggered DNA nanodevices for targeted dual-drug cancer therapy has been published in Adv Sci<\/em><\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n

March 26, 2026\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/b>Hari Priya Sriramakrishnan received a Best Poster Presentation Award for the UMass CNS Grad Research Symposium.\u00a0 Congrats, Hari!<\/p>\n

February 27, 2026 <\/strong><\/b>\u00a0 Mingxu agreed to serve as the co-PI to mentor the UMass iGEM team!<\/p>\n

February 11, 2026 <\/strong><\/b>\u00a0 Our invited review paper about multiplexed RNA imaging and profiling in living cells has been selected as one of the Most popular 2025 analytical chemistry articles <\/a>in Chem. Sci<\/em>.<\/p>\n

January 29, 2026 <\/strong><\/b>\u00a0 Two BMB major undergrads, Anvita Kalpande <\/span><\/span>and Joshua Wu, and a Biology major undergrad, Asude Gokcan, join the lab. \u00a0Welcome Anvita, Asude, and Joshua!<\/p>\n

2025<\/strong><\/h3>\n

December 08, 2025\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/b>A new chemistry major graduate student, Ngoc (Hazel) Le, joins our lab. \u00a0Welcome Hazel!<\/p>\n

October 22, 2025\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/b>Zhaolin Xue receives a FASEB travel award to attend FASEB Conference on Phase Transitions in Cellular Signaling and Disease.\u00a0 Congrats, Zhaolin!<\/p>\n

October 20, 2025\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong>Our invited review paper about multiplexed RNA imaging and profiling in living cells has been published in Chem Sci<\/em><\/a>,<\/span> as part of 15th Anniversary: Chemical Science Leading Investigators collection.<\/p>\n

September 09, 2025\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong>Our invited review paper about RNA grammar in driving synthetic condensates has been published in Trends in Chemistry<\/em><\/a>.\u00a0 <\/span>This is also our 100th publication!<\/p>\n

August 26, 2025\u00a0 \u00a0<\/b><\/strong>Lan Mi is awarded a Paul Hathewa Terry Endowment Award for oral presentation.\u00a0 Oyeshik Mukherjee is a First Place winner of William E McEwen Scholarship Award for outstanding poster presentation during ResearchFest 2025.\u00a0 Congrats, Lan and Oyeshik!<\/p>\n

August 25, 2025\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong>Our paper describing a CRISPR-Cas12a-assisted DNA probes for sensitive detection of intercellular forces has been published in Nano Letters<\/em><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

August 04, 2025\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/b>A new chemistry major graduate student, Jinan Qin, joins our lab. \u00a0Welcome Jinan!<\/p>\n

July 25, 2025\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/b>Mingxu has been selected as a Fellow of the International Association of Advanced Materials<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

June 15, 2025\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong>As part of a SLAS Graduate Fellowship awarded to Lan Mi, our invited paper describing an genetically encoded fluorogenic RNA-based bioluminescence resonance energy transfer (BRET) sensors for cellular imaging and target detection\u202fhas been published in SLAS Discovery<\/em><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

June 10, 2025\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong>We have received a 3-year grant from NSF to develop fluorogenic RNA-based metabolite sensors.\u00a0 Thanks, NSF CBET program!<\/p>\n

May 05, 2025\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/b>Congrats Ru Zheng on passing her thesis defense!\u00a0 The Ph.D. #8 from our lab!\u00a0 Ru has started her Scientist position at Amphastar Pharmaceuticals.\u00a0 We will miss you, Ru!<\/p>\n

March 20, 2025\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/b>Mingxu presented at the Center on Probes for Molecular Mechanotechnology<\/a><\/em> at Emory.\u00a0 A very nice sketchnote<\/em><\/a>.\u00a0 Thanks Khalid and Mathis!<\/p>\n

March 12, 2025\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/b>Sima Khajouei will take a 12-week summer internship at Takeda Pharmaceuticals.\u00a0 Congrats!<\/p>\n

March 07, 2025\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/b>A special research topic of DNA-based Nanostructures: Advancing Drug Delivery and Disease Therapy<\/em><\/a>\u00a0in the journal Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews<\/a><\/em> edited by Prof. Mingxu You is now accepting reviews in this topic!<\/p>\n

February 15, 2025\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/b>Sima Khajouei receives a Biophysical Society travel award to attend 2025 Biophysical Society Annual Meeting.\u00a0 Congrats, Sima!<\/p>\n

January 30, 2025 <\/strong><\/b>\u00a0 Two BMB major undergrads, Jiawei Wu and Jeffrey Chen, join the lab. \u00a0Welcome Jay and Jeffrey!<\/p>\n

January 29, 2025\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/b>Lan Mi received the Student Poster Award for SLAS 2025 conference.\u00a0 Congrats, Lan!<\/p>\n

January 10, 2025 <\/strong><\/b>\u00a0 A materials science and engineering major graduate student, Ali Ebrahimi Darsinouei, joins the lab. \u00a0Welcome Ali!<\/p>\n

2024<\/strong><\/h3>\n

December 26, 2024\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/b>A five-year NIH grant!\u00a0 We are honored to receive a Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award <\/a><\/span>(MIRA R35) for developing DNA probes for defining mechanical landscapes at cell-cell junctions.\u00a0 Thanks, NIGMS!<\/p>\n

December 20, 2024\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong>Our paper describing an intercellular force-triggered targeted drug delivery platform has been published in Nano Letters<\/em><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

December 18, 2024\u00a0 <\/strong><\/b>\u00a0Lan Mi is selected as a Student Poster Award Finalist for SLAS 2025 conference.\u00a0 Congrats, Lan!<\/p>\n

December 06, 2024\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/b>Two new chemistry major graduate students, Alison Hecht and Oyeshik Mukherjee, join our lab. \u00a0Welcome Alison and Oyeshik!<\/p>\n

November 03, 2024\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong>Our paper describing a label-free and portable electrochemical DNA sensor for detecting cellular forces has been published in Anal. Chim. Acta<\/em><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

September 24, 2024\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong>Our review paper about optogenetic tools that have been used for regulating RNA metabolism and functions has been published in ChemBioChem<\/em><\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

September 02, 2024 <\/strong><\/b>\u00a0 A chemistry major undergrad, Jae Le, joins the lab. \u00a0Welcome Jae!<\/p>\n

August 27, 2024\u00a0 \u00a0<\/b><\/strong>Priyanka Bhattacharyya is awarded a William E McEwen Award for outstanding poster presentation during ResearchFest 2024.\u00a0 Congrats, Priyanka!<\/p>\n

August 21, 2024\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong>Our review paper about DNA nanodevices that can regulate membrane receptor dimerization and oligomerization has been published in Chem Comm<\/em><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

July 29, 2024\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong>We have received a 2-year grant from NSF to develop DNA probes for modulating cell membrane protein-protein interactions.\u00a0 Thanks, NSF MCB program!<\/p>\n

July 15, 2024\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/b>Ru Zheng will start a 5.5-month co-op at Dyne Therapeutics.\u00a0 Congrats!<\/p>\n

June 27, 2024\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/b>Hari Priya Sriramakrishnan has been awarded 2-year UMass Chemistry-Biology Interface Fellowship. \u00a0Congrats, Hari!<\/p>\n

June 23, 2024\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong>Our collaborative paper describing the RNA-templated synthesis of fluorescent AuNCs for potential cellular RNA imaging has been accepted by Colloids Surf. B Biointerfaces<\/a><\/em>.<\/em><\/p>\n

June 17, 2024\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/b>Zhaolin Xue starts a 10-week summer internship at Biogen.\u00a0 Congrats!<\/p>\n

June 11, 2024\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong>Our paper describing a so-called “seqFRIES” system for multiplexed sequential imaging in living cells has been accepted by Nucleic Acids Research<\/em><\/a><\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

June 10, 2024\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/b>Lan Mi starts a 12-week summer internship at Malvern Panalytical.\u00a0 Congrats!<\/p>\n

June 03, 2024\u00a0 <\/strong><\/b>\u00a0Lee-SIP<\/a> undergrad student, Lucy Luong, joins the lab for summer research. \u00a0Welcome!<\/p>\n

May 21, 2024\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/b>Biological sciences major undergrad from Mount Holyoke College, Chang “Claire” Yuan, joins the lab. \u00a0Welcome!<\/p>\n

May 09, 2024\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/b>Congrats Ahsan Ausaf Ali on passing his thesis defense!\u00a0 The Ph.D. #7 from our lab!\u00a0 Ahsan has started his Research Scientist position at Spear Bio.\u00a0 We will miss you, Ahsan!<\/p>\n

April 18, 2024\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong>Our News & Views paper about mechanically activated RTK signaling has been published in Nature Chemical Biology<\/em><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

April 10, 2024\u00a0 \u00a0<\/b><\/strong>Mingxu has received an Outstanding Research Award from the College of Natural Sciences at UMass Amherst!<\/p>\n

March 25, 2024\u00a0 \u00a0<\/b><\/strong>New Molecular & Cellular Biology major graduate student, Yizhan Guo, joins our lab. \u00a0Welcome Yizhan!<\/p>\n

February 29, 2024\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong>Our paper describing the first DNA-based electrochemical sensor for measuring cell-generated forces has been accepted by Biosense Bioelectron<\/em><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

February 01, 2024\u00a0 <\/strong><\/b>Lan Mi receives a prestigious two-year $100,000 SLAS Graduate Education Fellowship<\/a><\/em> in recognition of one outstanding student each year pursuing graduate degrees in any discipline related to life sciences R&D.\u00a0 Congrats, Lan!<\/p>\n

January 18, 2024\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/b>Congrats Qian Tian on passing her thesis defense!\u00a0 The Ph.D. #6 from our lab!\u00a0 Qian has started her Scientist position at Dyne Therapeutics.\u00a0 We will miss you, Qian!<\/p>\n

2023<\/strong><\/h3>\n

December 08, 2023\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/b>New chemistry major graduate student, Hari Priya Sriramakrishnan, joins our lab. \u00a0Welcome Hari Priya!<\/p>\n

November 18, 2023\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/b>Ahsan Ausaf Ali receives the Paul Hatheway Terry Scholarship in recognition of his research and academic standing.\u00a0 Congrats, Ahsan!\u00a0 The fourth You Lab winner in a row for this one of the most prestigious awards in the department!<\/p>\n

October 09, 2023\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong>Our paper describing the use of DNA molecular tension probes for imaging intercellular tensile forces in 3D spheroids and embryoid bodies has been accepted by Front Cell Dev Biol<\/em><\/a><\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

August 29, 2023\u00a0 <\/b><\/strong>Ahsan Ausaf Ali is awarded a William E McEwen Scholarship Fund Award for oral presentation during ResearchFest 2023.\u00a0 Congrats, Ahsan!<\/p>\n

August 21, 2023\u00a0 <\/strong><\/b>\u00a0Murali Mohana Rao Singuru joins the lab as a postdoctoral researcher. \u00a0Welcome Murali!<\/p>\n

July 10, 2023\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong>Our paper describing an approach for targeted RNA condensation in living cells via genetically encoded triplet repeat tags has been accepted by Nucleic Acids Res<\/em><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

July 05, 2023\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong>Our collaborative paper describing a DNA-based nanodevice for controllable mitochondrial aggregation and fusion has been accepted by Chem Sci<\/em><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

June 19, 2023\u00a0 <\/strong><\/b>\u00a0Mahmoud Amouzadeh Tabrizi<\/span><\/span> joins the lab as a senior research fellow. \u00a0Welcome Mahmoud!<\/p>\n

June 18, 2023\u00a0 <\/strong><\/b>\u00a0Jinan Qin joins the lab as a summer visiting graduate student. \u00a0Welcome Jinan!<\/p>\n

June 06, 2023\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/b>Qian Tian will start a 6-month co-op at Entrada Therapeutics.\u00a0 Congrats!<\/p>\n

May 30, 2023\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/b>Ahsan Ausaf Ali starts a 10-week summer internship at Takeda Pharmaceuticals.\u00a0 Congrats!<\/p>\n

May 29, 2023<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span>Chemistry major undergrad from Mount Holyoke College, Qinge Liu, joins the lab. \u00a0Welcome!<\/p>\n

May 02, 2023<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0Congrats Zhining Sun on passing his thesis defense!\u00a0 The Ph.D. #5 from our lab!\u00a0 Jennings will join Prof. Tom Soh’s lab at Stanford University for a postdoc position afterwards.<\/p>\n

April 06, 2023\u00a0 \u00a0 <\/strong>Justin Kieu has received a Michael Bruno Chemistry Scholarship Award.\u00a0 Congrats, Justin!<\/p>\n

March 29, 2023\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/b>A special research topic of The Current Landscape of Nucleic Acid-Based Drug Delivery Systems\u00a0<\/em><\/a> in the journal Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences<\/a><\/em> edited by Prof. Mingxu You. Prof. Zhenbao Liu, and Prof. Chi Yao is now accepting different article types!<\/p>\n

March 01, 2023 <\/strong><\/b>\u00a0 A visiting graduate student from Universit\u00e9 Paris Cit\u00e9, Rania Joomun, joins the lab. \u00a0Welcome Rania!<\/p>\n

February 13, 2023 <\/strong><\/b>\u00a0 A chemistry major undergrad, Justin Kieu, joins the lab. \u00a0Welcome Justin!<\/p>\n

January 31, 2023\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/b>A special research topic of Trends in Fluorescent and Bioluminescent Biosensors<\/em><\/a> in the journal Biosensors<\/a><\/em> edited by Prof. Mingxu You and Prof. Huiwang Ai is now accepting different article types!<\/p>\n

January 24, 2023\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong>We have received a 2.5-year grant from Chan Zuckerberg Initiative to develop multiplexed RNA-based fluorescent sensors for dynamic imaging<\/a><\/em>. \u00a0Thanks, CZI!<\/p>\n

2022<\/strong><\/h3>\n

December 27, 2022\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong>Our paper describing the first fluorogenic RNA-based bioluminescence resonance energy transfer (BRET) sensors has been accepted by ACS Sensors<\/em><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

December 19, 2022\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/b>Two new chemistry major graduate students, Priyanka Bhattacharyya and Sima Khajouei, join our lab. \u00a0Welcome Priyanka and Sima!<\/p>\n

December 05, 2022\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/b>A special research topic of Advanced Functional Materials-Based Sensors<\/em><\/a> in the journal Frontiers in Chemistry<\/a><\/em> edited by Prof. Mingxu You and others is now accepting different article types!<\/p>\n

November 26, 2022\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/b>Ahsan Ausaf Ali receives the Paul Hatheway Terry Scholarship in recognition of his research and academic standing.\u00a0 Congrats, Ahsan!\u00a0 The third You Lab winner in a row for this most prestigious award in the department given to only one graduate student each year!<\/p>\n

October 10, 2022\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong>For the third year in a row, Mingxu has been recognized as one of the Stanford\u2019s List of World\u2019s Top 2% Scientists<\/a>.<\/p>\n

September 08, 2022\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong>Our paper describing an advanced DNA hybridization-based approach for lipid domains in live-cell membranes has been accepted by Nano Letters<\/em><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

June 08, 2022\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/b>Mingxu has been promoted to Associate Professor with Tenure<\/a>!<\/p>\n

May 25, 2022\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/b>Mingxu is now an associate editor of the analytical chemistry section of Frontiers in Chemistry<\/a><\/em>, new submissions are welcome!<\/p>\n

May 16, 2022\u00a0 <\/strong><\/b>\u00a0Undergrad student from McGill University, Anastasiya Kaltashova, joins the lab for summer research. \u00a0Welcome, Anastasiya!<\/p>\n

May 05, 2022\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/b>Our invited review describing recent progress of applying lipid-DNA conjugates for studying cell membrane biophysics has been accepted by Quarterly Rev Biophys<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n

April 5, 2022\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/b>Qian Tian will take a 3-month summer internship at Dyne Therapeutics.\u00a0 Congrats!<\/p>\n

March 18, 2022 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong>Jikun Wang has received an Oliver Zajicek Memorial Scholarship Award.\u00a0 Congrats, Jikun!<\/p>\n

March 18, 2022\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong>Kevin Alexander has received a J.F.B. Fund for undergraduate research during summer.\u00a0 Congrats, Kevin!<\/p>\n

March 08, 2022<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0Our invited review describing recent development of DNA-based mechanical sensors and regulators has been accepted by Chem Comm<\/a><\/em> in a special issue of Emerging Investigators<\/span>.<\/p>\n

February 18, 2022\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/b>Ahsan Ausaf Ali will take a 10-week summer internship at Takeda Pharmaceuticals.\u00a0 Congrats!<\/p>\n

January 25, 2022 <\/strong><\/b>\u00a0 A microbiology major undergrad, Michelle Moskvitch, and a biochemistry major Kevin Alexander join the lab. \u00a0Welcome!<\/p>\n

2021<\/strong><\/h3>\n

December 20, 2021\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/b>Dr. Yuanchang Liu joins the lab as a research fellow. \u00a0Welcome!<\/p>\n

December 09, 2021<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0Congrats Rigumula Wu on passing her thesis defense!\u00a0 The Ph.D. #4 from our lab!\u00a0 Good luck at Genentech.<\/p>\n

December 08, 2021\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/b>Jennings Sun receives the Paul Hatheway Terry Scholarship in recognition of his research and academic standing.\u00a0 Congrats, Jennings!<\/p>\n

December 02, 2021<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0Congrats Puspam Keshri on passing his thesis defense!\u00a0 The Ph.D. #3 from our lab!\u00a0 Puspam will join Laronde (Endless RNA Therapeutics) afterwards.<\/p>\n

November 12, 2021\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong>Our paper describing a DNA hybridization-based approach for imaging membrane order and transient interactions in living cells has been accepted by Angew Chem Int Ed<\/em><\/a>.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

September 06, 2021\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong>We are on Twitter now!\u00a0 Follow us @UMass_YouLab<\/a>.<\/p>\n

September 06, 2021\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong>Our paper describing a RNA-based sensor that enables for the first time the live-cell imaging of (p)ppGpp has been accepted by Angew Chem Int Ed<\/em><\/a>.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

September 01, 2021<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span>Two biochemistry major undergrads, Sarthak Srivastava and Simon Kangoun, join the lab. \u00a0Welcome!<\/p>\n

August 24, 2021\u00a0 \u00a0<\/b><\/strong>During ResearchFest 2021, Rigumula Wu is awarded a William E McEwen Scholarship Fund Award for oral presentation.\u00a0 Ru Zheng is a First Place winner of Marvin D. Rausch Scholarship Award for outstanding poster presentation. \u00a0Congrats, Rigumula and Ru!<\/p>\n

August 05, 2021<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0Congrats Yousef Bagheri on passing his thesis defense!\u00a0 The second Ph.D. from our lab!\u00a0 Yousef will join the Sarah Veatch Lab at the University of Michigan as a postdoc fellow.<\/p>\n

July 28, 2021<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0Congrats Qikun Yu on passing his thesis defense!\u00a0 The first You Lab Ph.D.!\u00a0 Qikun will join the PTC Therapeutics as an RNA biology scientist.<\/p>\n

July 13, 2021<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0Our invited paper describing a recently developed software for engineering genetically encoded RNA nanodevices has been accepted by Trends in Chemistry<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

July 12, 2021\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong>Mingxu has received 2020-21 Burlew Award from Connecticut Valley Section of American Chemical Society.\u00a0 <\/span>Thanks, CVS – ACS!<\/p>\n

June 19, 2021\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/b>Our collaborative paper describing a photodiode-based on-chip ratiometric aptamer sensor for detecting cytokine dynamics has been accepted by Sensors Actuators B: Chem<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

June 11, 2021\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/b>Ru Zheng has been awarded 2-year UMass Chemistry-Biology Interface Fellowship. \u00a0Congrats, Ru!<\/p>\n

June 05, 2021<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0Our invited book chapter describing rational design of allosteric fluorogenic RNA sensors has now been published in RNA Scaffolds<\/em><\/a>, part of Methods in Molecular Biology\u00a0<\/i>book series,\u00a0<\/i>Springer.<\/p>\n

June 01, 2021\u00a0 <\/strong><\/b>\u00a0CURE-REU<\/a> undergrad student from Holyoke Community College, Anastasia Antropova, joins the lab for summer research. \u00a0Welcome, Anastasia!<\/p>\n

May 03, 2021\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong>Our paper describing a fluorescence lifetime-based approach for quantitative and multiplexed imaging of intercellular tensile forces has been accepted by Angew Chem Int Ed<\/em><\/a>.\u00a0 <\/span>This paper has also been selected as a Very Important Paper<\/span> (VIP).<\/p>\n

April 30, 2021\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong>Mingxu has been selected as a\u00a0Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar<\/a>.\u00a0 <\/span>For more information, please check this UMass News<\/a>.\u00a0 <\/span>Thanks, the Camille & Henry Dreyfus Foundation!<\/p>\n

April 06, 2021<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0Dr. Kewei Ren has accepted an offer from Nanjing University of Science and Technology<\/span> in China.\u00a0 He will be a Professor of Chemical Engineering<\/span>\u00a0and starts his own lab!\u00a0 Congrats, Kewei!<\/p>\n

March 30, 2021<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0Our invited review describing recent development of genetically encoded RNA nanodevices that can be used for cellular imaging and regulation has been accepted by Nanoscale<\/em><\/a> in a special issue of Emerging Investigators<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n

March 29, 2021\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/b>Mingxu joins the editorial board of Biosensors<\/em><\/a>, new submissions are welcome!<\/p>\n

March 15, 2021<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span>Chemical Engineering major undergrad, Raymond Pho, joins the lab. \u00a0Welcome!<\/p>\n

February 22, 2021\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/b>Chemistry major graduate students, Lan Mi and Zhaolin Xue, join our lab. \u00a0Welcome Lan and Zhaolin!<\/p>\n

February 16, 2021<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span>Biochemistry major undergrad, Jahn Pothier, joins the lab. \u00a0Welcome!<\/p>\n

2020<\/strong><\/h3>\n

December 28, 2020\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong>Our paper describing lipid-DNA conjugate-based efficient and selective membrane modification on various bacterial cells has been accepted by Chemical Science<\/em><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

December 04, 2020\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/b>Yousef Bagheri receives the Paul Hatheway Terry Scholarship in recognition of his research and academic standing.\u00a0 Congrats, Yousef!<\/p>\n

December 03, 2020\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/b>A special issue of DNA Nanotechnology on Bio-membranes<\/em><\/a> edited by Prof. Mingxu You and Dr. Bin Zhao is now accepting original research and review papers!<\/p>\n

October 16, 2020\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/b>Our invited review paper describing current methods for measuring cell membrane transient interactions has been accepted by Front Chem<\/em><\/a> in a special issue of Rising Stars<\/span>.<\/p>\n

August 18, 2020\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/b>Puspam Keshri is awarded William E McEwen Fellowship Award for outstanding poster presentation during ResearchFest 2020. \u00a0Congrats, Puspam!<\/p>\n

August 14, 2020\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong>Our paper describing an RNA apta<\/span>mer-based pho<\/span>tosensitizer for targeted cell regulation has been accepted by Angew Chem Int Ed<\/em><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

July 22, 2020\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong>Our paper describing a DNA-based probe to quantify intercellular tensile forces has been accepted by Chemical Science<\/em><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

July 09, 2020\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/b>Mingxu joins the editorial board of Membranes<\/em><\/a>, new submissions are welcome!<\/p>\n

June 08, 2020\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/b>The lab reopens following a COVID-19 shut down in March.<\/p>\n

May 06, 2020<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0Our invited paper describing the first fluorogenic RNA sensors in a paper substrate for the point-of-care testing has been accepted by Anal Methods<\/em><\/a> in a special issue of Emerging Investigators<\/span>.<\/p>\n

April 20, 2020\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/b>Manojkumar Narayanan, passes his M.S. thesis defense from UMass Lowell biology program. \u00a0Congrats, Manoj!<\/p>\n

February 07, 2020<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0Our invited paper describing live-cell dynamic imaging of small molecules using ratiometric RNA-based sensors has been accepted by ACS Applied Bio Materials<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

January 22, 2020\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong>Our paper describing a genetically encoded RNA hybridization chain reaction for imaging RNA sub-cellular locations has been accepted by JACS<\/em><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

January 21, 2020\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/b>Chemistry major undergrad, Zhixin Mo, and Honor college student, Alan Chai, join the lab. \u00a0Welcome!<\/p>\n

2019<\/strong><\/h3>\n

December 17, 2019\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/b>Chemistry major graduate students, Ru Zheng and Ahsan Ausaf Ali, join our lab. \u00a0Welcome Ahsan and Ru!<\/p>\n

November 26, 2019 \u00a0 <\/strong><\/b>Yousef Bagheri receives a Biophysical Society travel award to attend 2020 Biophysical Society Annual Meeting.\u00a0 Congrats, Yousef!<\/p>\n

November 12, 2019\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong>Prof. Yang Shu from Northeastern University of China joins the lab as a visiting scholar. \u00a0Welcome, Yang!<\/p>\n

October 23, 2019\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong>Our paper describing a comprehensive quantification of the dynamic modification process of lipid-DNA probes onto live cell membranes has been accepted by Chemical Science<\/em><\/a>.\u00a0 <\/span>This paper has been selected as a 2019 Chemical Science HOT Article<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

October 11, 2019\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong>Nuanfei Zhu from Jiangsu University joins the lab as a visiting graduate student. \u00a0Welcome, Nuanfei!<\/p>\n

October 07, 2019\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong>Our paper describing the quantitative imaging of small molecules using ratiometric RNA-based sensors has been accepted by Angew Chem Int Ed<\/em><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

September 13, 2019\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/b>Chemistry major undergrad, Jikun Wang, Biochemistry major undergrads, Yiwen Xie, Zachary Gentile, Saoirse Connolly, and David Lutati, join the lab. \u00a0Welcome!<\/p>\n

August 27, 2019\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/b>A five-year NIH grant!\u00a0 We are honored to receive a Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award<\/a> (MIRA R35). <\/span>For more information, please check this UMass News<\/a>.\u00a0 <\/span>Thanks, NIGMS!<\/p>\n

August 27, 2019\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/b>Qikun Yu and Rigumula Wu are both awarded William E McEwen Fellowship Awards for outstanding poster presentation during ResearchFest 2019. \u00a0Congrats, Rigumula and Qikun!<\/p>\n

June 07, 2019\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/b>Our invited review paper describing lipid-DNA conjugates for cell membrane modification, analysis, and regulation\u00a0has been accepted by Supramol Chem<\/em><\/a>\u00a0in a special issue of Emerging Supramolecular Chemists<\/span> in North America.<\/p>\n

May 28, 2019 \u00a0<\/strong><\/b>\u00a0CURE-REU<\/a> undergrad student from UT Austin, Nicholas Fong, joins the lab for summer research. \u00a0Welcome, Nicholas!<\/p>\n

May 28, 2019 \u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/b>UMass Lowell biology graduate student, Manojkumar Narayanan, joins the lab for the M.S. thesis research. \u00a0Welcome, Manojukumar!<\/p>\n

May 28, 2019 \u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/b>Our collaborative paper describing a DNA-based microfluidic device for potassium detection during dialysis treatment\u00a0has been accepted by Biomed Eng OnLine<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

April 26, 2019 \u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>Mark Leon-Duque has received a Mr. Tompkins Award, an Edward Shapiro Fund Award, and an ACS-Connecticut Valley Section Student Award.\u00a0 Congrats, Mark!<\/p>\n

April 26, 2019 \u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>Sara Chedid has received an Oliver Zajicek Memorial Scholarship Award and a Chemistry Departmental Recognition Award.\u00a0 Congrats, Sara!<\/p>\n

April 16, 2019\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong>A seed fund from IALS M2M is awarded to support our collaboration with Prof. Anne Gershenson at UMass. \u00a0Thanks, M2M!<\/p>\n

March 27, 2019 \u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/b>Qikun Yu receives a CBI travel grant.\u00a0 Congrats, Qikun!<\/p>\n

March 23, 2019 \u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/b>Yousef Bagheri and Qikun Yu receive the department travel grant for graduate students.\u00a0 Congrats, Yousef and Qikun!<\/p>\n

March 18, 2019 \u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/b>Yousef Bagheri receives a funding to attend a week-long Quantitative Fluorescence Microscopy course at MDI Biological Laboratory<\/a> in Maine.\u00a0 Thanks, M2M and Light Microscopy Facility!<\/p>\n

February 19, 2019\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong>Mingxu has been selected as a\u00a0Sloan Research Fellow<\/a> <\/span>in chemistry.\u00a0 For more information, please check this UMass News<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span> Thanks, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation!<\/p>\n

February 05, 2019\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong>We have received a five-year NSF CAREER Award<\/a> <\/span>to support our development of genetically encoded RNA-based sensors.\u00a0 For more information, please check this UMass News<\/a>.\u00a0 <\/span>Thanks, CBET!<\/p>\n

February 05, 2019\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/b>Our invited review paper describing intracellular imaging with genetically encoded RNA-based sensors has been accepted by Nanomaterials<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

January 22, 2019\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/b>Biochemistry\u00a0major freshman, Rafael De Pillis, joins the lab. \u00a0Welcome, Rafael!<\/p>\n

January 15, 2019\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/b>Mingxu joins the editorial board of PeerJ Analytical Chemistry<\/em><\/a>, new submissions are now welcome!<\/p>\n

January 13, 2019\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/b>Our invited review paper describing recent advancement of fluorogenic RNA-based sensors has been accepted by Methods<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

2018<\/strong><\/h3>\n

December 17, 2018\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong>Our paper describing an RNA integrator sensor for intracellular imaging of low-abundance metabolites has been accepted by Cell Chem Biol<\/em><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

December 13, 2018\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong>Our paper describing a genetically encoded RNA-based sensor for intracellular imaging of silver ions has been accepted by ChemComm<\/em><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

December 06, 2018\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/b>Chemistry major graduate student, Qian Tian, joins our lab. \u00a0Welcome Qian (Tina)!<\/p>\n

October 29, 2018\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/b>Mark Leon-Duque, undergrad in the lab,\u00a0has been awarded the\u00a02018-2019 UMass Amherst Rising Researcher Student Achievement Award. \u00a0Congrats, Mark!<\/p>\n

September 05, 2018 \u00a0 <\/strong><\/b>Biochemistry\u00a0major undergrad, Tony Nguyen, joins the lab. \u00a0Welcome, Tony!<\/p>\n

August 29, 2018 \u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/b>Yousef is awarded William E McEwen Fellowship Award for outstanding poster presentation during ResearchFest 2018. \u00a0Congrats, Yousef!<\/p>\n

August 21-22, 2018\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/b>Mingxu organizes a two-day “super” symposium on “Nucleic Acid-based Sensors” at the 256th ACS National Meeting<\/a>.\u00a0 He also gives two invited talks on intercellular force sensors and genetically encoded RNA sensors, respectively.\u00a0 Thanks for the support from a wonderful group of speakers in the symposium!<\/p>\n

August 17, 2018\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/b>Chemistry major graduate student, Puspam Keshri, joins our lab. \u00a0Welcome Puspam!<\/p>\n

July 30, 2018 \u00a0<\/strong><\/b>\u00a0Kewei Ren joins\u00a0the lab as a postdoctoral research associate. \u00a0Welcome Kewei!<\/p>\n

June 26, 2018\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong>Our paper describing a novel genetically encoded RNA circuit for low-abundance RNA imaging has been accepted by\u00a0JACS<\/em><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

March 14, 2018\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/b>Casey O’Brien, undergrad in the lab, has been awarded the Richard W. Fessenden Excellence Award for two graduating seniors, and the Departmental Recognition Award for two outstanding chemistry majors any years. \u00a0Congrats, Casey!<\/p>\n

March 14<\/b>, 2018\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong>Undergrad in the lab, Katherine Poisson, has been awarded an American Institute of Chemists Award for a senior chemistry major who has demonstrated an outstanding record of achievement, leadership and character, and was also recognized as a Distinguished Undergraduate TA. \u00a0Congrats, Kate!<\/p>\n

March 14<\/b>, 2018\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong>Mark Leon-Duque, undergrad in the lab,\u00a0has been awarded the\u00a02018 Richason Award for being a rising senior dedicated to academics and strong character, and a Bradspies Summer Research Fellowship. \u00a0Congrats, Mark!<\/p>\n

February 28, 2018 \u00a0 <\/strong><\/b>Our collaboration paper describing an isothermal method to exponentially amplify DNA has been published in\u00a0Chemical Science<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

February 13, 2018\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong>Our collaborative NIH R01 grant<\/a> <\/span>with Prof. Stephen Lory at Harvard Medical School and X-Chem, LLC has been awarded. \u00a0Thanks, NIAID!<\/p>\n

February 06, 2018 \u00a0<\/strong><\/b> Biochemistry major undergrad, Kathleen McAuliffe, chemistry major undergrad, Rashad Almadani, together with a chemistry major undergrad from Mount Holyoke College, Yeonsoo Kum, join the lab. \u00a0Welcome!<\/p>\n

2017<\/strong><\/h3>\n

December 15, 2017 \u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/b>Chemistry major graduate student, Zhining (Jennings) Sun, joins our lab. \u00a0Welcome Jennings!<\/p>\n

December 06, 2017\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong>Our paper describing a novel DNA probe for\u00a0intercellular tensile force measurement has been accepted by\u00a0JACS<\/em><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

June 06, 2017 \u00a0 <\/strong><\/b>Qikun Yu, graduate student in the lab, is awarded 2-year UMass Chemistry-Biology Interface Traineeship. \u00a0Congrats, Qikun!<\/p>\n

April\u00a021, 2017 \u00a0<\/strong><\/b>\u00a0Mark Leon-Duque,\u00a0undergrad in the lab, was awarded the\u00a0Uche Anyanwu Memorial Award for Outstanding Research. \u00a0Congrats, Mark!<\/p>\n

April\u00a010, 2017<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0A seed fund from IALS M2M is awarded to support our collaboration with Prof. Yubing Sun at UMass. \u00a0Thanks, M2M!<\/p>\n

April 03, 2017\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong>Undergrad in the lab, Casey O’Brien, has been awarded the\u00a0Bradspies Summer Research Fellowship. \u00a0Congrats, Casey!<\/p>\n

February 02, 2017 \u00a0 <\/strong>Chemistry major graduate student, Yousef Bagheri, joins our lab. \u00a0Welcome Yousef!<\/p>\n

January 23, 2017 \u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0Four chemistry major undergraduate students, Mark Leon-Duque, Sara Chedid, Casey O’Brien, and Katherine Poisson, together with\u00a0one microbiology major junior, Alden Richter, join the lab. \u00a0Welcome!!<\/p>\n

2016<\/strong><\/h3>\n

December\u00a016, 2016 \u00a0 <\/strong>Chemistry major graduate students, Rigumula Wu and Qikun Yu, officially join our lab. \u00a0Welcome Rigumula! \u00a0Welcome Qikun!\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

November\u00a014, 2016\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong>Jing Shi from Tsinghua University joins\u00a0the lab as a visiting student. \u00a0Welcome Jing!<\/p>\n

November\u00a014, 2016\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong>Bin Zhao joins\u00a0the lab as a postdoctoral research associate. \u00a0Welcome Bin!\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

October 02, 2016\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong>Aruni Karunanyake joins the lab as a research fellow. \u00a0Welcome Aruni!<\/p>\n

September 2016\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong>Mingxu becomes faculty member of Institute for Applied Life Sciences<\/a>, \u00a0Chemistry-Biology Interface Program<\/a>, Molecular & Cellular Biology Graduate Program<\/a>, \u00a0Center for Biological Physics<\/a>, and Center for Clinical and Translational Science<\/a> at\u00a0UMass Amherst.<\/p>\n

August 29, 2016\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong>Day 1 of the You Lab at UMass Amherst!<\/p>\n

June\u00a002, 2016 \u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>Our collaboration paper describing an ultrafast excited state proton transfer\u00a0of fluorinated GFP chromophore has been accepted by\u00a0Chemical Science<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

April\u00a019, 2016 \u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>Our paper describing how to design and optimize fluorogenic riboswitch sensors has been published in Methods in Enzymology<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

March 24, 2016 \u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>The You Lab website is now up and running! \u00a0Welcome!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

2026 April 06, 2026 \u00a0Yizhan Guo receives an Armstrong Graduate Student Research Grant from UMass.\u00a0\u00a0Congrats, Yizhan! April 06, 2026\u00a0 \u00a0Our paper about mechanically triggered DNA nanodevices for targeted dual-drug cancer therapy has been published in Adv Sci. March 26, 2026\u00a0 …<\/p>\n

News<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":50,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-27","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/elements.chem.umass.edu\/youlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/27","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/elements.chem.umass.edu\/youlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/elements.chem.umass.edu\/youlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elements.chem.umass.edu\/youlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/50"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elements.chem.umass.edu\/youlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27"}],"version-history":[{"count":401,"href":"https:\/\/elements.chem.umass.edu\/youlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/27\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2456,"href":"https:\/\/elements.chem.umass.edu\/youlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/27\/revisions\/2456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/elements.chem.umass.edu\/youlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

November 25, 2016\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong>Our paper describing a novel DNA probe for\u00a0monitoring dynamic lipid encounters on live cell membranes has been accepted by\u00a0Nature Nanotechnology<\/em><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

November 18, 2019\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/b>Our invited review paper describing the process and application of lipid-oligonucleotide conjugates for cell membrane engineering and analysis has been accepted by Current Opinion in Biomedical Engineering<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n